4. Anagram, Continued

In another test that involved pulling calendar info from a NYC tourist site, we tried to extract the event data and get it into our outlook calendar. This time it got the date right but did not include a link to where the info came from - which is a functionality that Anagram offers for contacts. Also, it was not able to parse the location or guess a title, either, though it did get the start- and end-time correct.

Anagram certainly isn’t perfect, but it’s not bad either.

Conclusions

Among the four programs that we looked at in this review, a common theme is the ability to do more with less effort. ActiveWords is all about shortcuts to do stuff with a word rather than multiple keystrokes. The only problem is that ActiveWords really is just a different way of launching applications. Sure, it’ll save time but I suspect that many users are already somewhat set in their ways about how they launch apps. At a price of $49.95, it’s likely a tough sell except maybe for those who are really keen on cutting down keystrokes.

Agendus offers some interesting functionality for the standalone Outlook desktop, and at a price of $39.95, it is something that might be an option. The real key is in determining whether the new views into Outlook that Agendus provides meet your personal workflow tastes and needs or not.

ContactCopy and Anagram are another story altogether. These are tools that can save a significant number of keystrokes, time and effort. ContactCopy is priced at $49.00, and there is also a copy2calendar add-on that costs an additional $24.95. In contrast, Anagram only retails for $29.95 and includes both contact- and calendar-type functionality. The fact that Anagram did a slightly better job of actually parsing the data we selected is further icing on the cake and helps to make it an easy choice for those looking to effortlessly add data to Outlook.

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